Man mistaken for animal, shot

Asamankese, May 19, GNA - A palm-wine tapper, Kofi Donkor, who went in search of mushrooms, met his untimely death when he was mistaken for a game and shot dead.

The alleged assailant, Kwame Denkye, a 54-year-old farmer, had been put before the Asamankese Circuit Court provisionally charged with murder.

His plea was not taken and he was remanded in prison custody until June 28.

Giving the facts of the case, Police Chief Inspector James Bassaw, said on April 14, this year (on Good Friday), Donkor who had gone into the bush at Aprokumase, near Akroso, to attend to his palm trees at about 0500 hours decided to search for mushrooms along with his two dogs.

He said Denkye, who was then returning home from a hunting expedition claimed he saw a light in the thicket and thinking it was an animal, shot at it. But when he went to pick the game, to his dismay, he found that he had killed Donkor. However, when he went home, Denkye did not report what had happened to anybody till three days later before he confessed to the chief of Aprokumase with the hunting gun that he had used to kill the palm-wine tapper. Denkye was subsequently handed over to the Police while Donkor had since been buried after autopsy. 19 May 06